On a day when voters in seven districts in Kerala exercised their franchise for the local body polls, Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener T.P. Ramakrishnan has sought to revive the debate over the State government’s ambitious semi-high speed rail (SilverLine) project. Addressing a ‘meet-the-leader’ event organised by the Calicut Press Club on Tuesday, Mr. Ramakrishnan said that the government will try to “go ahead” with the proposal. He accused the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “brutally attacking” the project. “People today need a system that enables high speed travel. SilverLine was a development proposal to address that need. The UDF, BJP, and certain extremist organisations, however, tried to obstruct it. The Union government supported their attempt,” Mr. Ramakrishnan said. Meanwhile, the LDF convener also claimed that the Railway Ministry has come up with a new proposal for enhancing rail connectivity in the State. “It is slightly different from the SilverLine project. The government will take a pragmatic and practical decision on it,” he said, while refusing to divulge more details. However, former BJP State president K. Surendran said that his party would never allow the SilverLine project to be implemented in the State. “It is against the interests of the people and will cause serious environmental damage. The BJP has opposed it in the past, it will continue to do so in the future. The Centre refused to grant permission for the project because of the pressure exerted by the party’s Kerala unit,” he added.
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